Nursing

Most super rich couples have breadwinning husbands and stay-at-home wives, contrasting sharply with everyone else

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 1, 2023

We examined how couples divide work, focusing on three different wealthy groups – the super rich, the just plain rich and the upper middle class, as defined by their wealth percentile, and compared them with those of less affluent couples.

Key Points: 
  • We examined how couples divide work, focusing on three different wealthy groups – the super rich, the just plain rich and the upper middle class, as defined by their wealth percentile, and compared them with those of less affluent couples.
  • We found that, in 2019, 53% of super rich heterosexual couples had arrangements in which the woman was not gainfully employed, compared with 27% of rich couples, 20% of upper-middle-class couples and 26% of less affluent couples.
  • On the flip side, just 28% of super rich couples had both the man and woman working full time.
  • What we still don’t know
    We don’t know what exactly drives super rich couples’ work-family decisions.

To have better disagreements, change your words – here are 4 ways to make your counterpart feel heard and keep the conversation going

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 1, 2023

Your yoga-teaching brother refuses to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and is confident that fresh air is the best medicine.

Key Points: 
  • Your yoga-teaching brother refuses to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and is confident that fresh air is the best medicine.
  • Your boss is hiring another white man for a leadership team already made up entirely of white men.
  • When that argument fails to have the intended persuasive impact, people often grow frustrated, and disagreement becomes conflict.
  • And one of the easiest behaviors to change is the words that you say.

A conversational toolbox, based on what works

    • Based on these analyses, we developed an algorithm that picks out specific words and phrases that make people in conflict feel that their counterpart is thoughtfully engaging with their perspective.
    • Those who received a brief conversational receptiveness training were seen as more desirable teammates and advisers by their counterpart.
    • Training also turned out to make people more persuasive in their arguments than those who did not learn about conversational receptiveness.

Measuring benefits of the tools in practice

    • We paired vaccine-supportive participants with the vaccine hesitant and instructed them to persuade their partner to get the shot.
    • We found that participants who received a couple minutes of instruction in conversational receptiveness were seen as more trustworthy and more reasonable by their counterparts.
    • In a subsequent study, we explained the concept of conversational receptiveness to participants on both sides of the issue.

Dialing down the acrimony

    • That’s an all-too-familiar experience for parents of teenagers who seem to have advanced degrees in ignoring unwelcome advice.
    • Health care providers often face a similar challenge when they try to persuade patients to change behaviors they do not wish to change.
    • Our work on conversational receptiveness builds on extensive prior research on the benefits of showing engagement with opposing perspectives.

Tina Turner: the singer’s resilience and defiance were typical of a survivor of intimate partner abuse

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 1, 2023

But as we mourn her passing, it’s worth noting that Tina was also a model survivor of intimate partner violence.

Key Points: 
  • But as we mourn her passing, it’s worth noting that Tina was also a model survivor of intimate partner violence.
  • In 1981, following her split from husband Ike Turner, Tina Turner began to speak openly about the years of abuse she had endured during their marriage.
  • Turner is rightly held up as a trailblazer for speaking publicly about her experience of intimate partner violence.
  • What makes Turner’s escape inspiring is the many layers of threat she faced and resisted beyond physical violence.

A strong (and vulnerable) black woman

    • Research has repeatedly found that intersectional issues are faced by black women who speak out and seek support for abuse.
    • Intersectionality describes multiple challenges or disadvantages faced by an individual with overlapping social identities, such as being a black woman.
    • Speaking out publicly as a black woman was complex for Turner, and as other black women have expressed, her bravery and steadfastness has inspired many others to follow suit.

More than a survivor

    • In this regard, she is typical of a survivor of abuse, not an exception.
    • Stereotypes of abuse victims as weak and submissive often lead to popular coverage which assumes that victimhood dominates a survivor’s social identity.
    • What they mean as they discuss their circumstances is that they are so much more than the stereotypical “victim” of domestic abuse.

From Donald Trump to Danielle Smith: 4 ways populists are jeopardizing democracy

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 1, 2023

He argued in a celebrated essay that even the prosperous, post-Second World War United States was not immune to the radicalism of authoritarian populism.

Key Points: 
  • He argued in a celebrated essay that even the prosperous, post-Second World War United States was not immune to the radicalism of authoritarian populism.
  • The so-called Red Scare of the 1950s was “simply the old ultra-conservatism and the old isolationism heightened by the extraordinary pressures of the contemporary world.” Seven decades later, Hofstadter’s words ring true again.

Paranoid politics

    • With so much money and power behind it, this paranoid style of politics — with its enemies lists, demonization of opposition leaders and often violent language — has gone mainstream.
    • But is there anything to fear from the red-hot rhetoric of the paranoid style of politics?
    • In Hofstadter’s time, after all, American conservative politics turned away from fringe radicalism following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.
    • The following year, Lyndon Johnson defeated right-wing Republican insurgent, Barry Goldwater in one of the largest landslides in U.S. history.

1. The shrinking middle ground

    • We are now in a world of zero-sum political contests, with a shrinking middle ground.
    • Conservative parties often force extreme referendums to maintain their grip on a deeply divided electorate.
    • Republicans are now doubling down on the abortion issue, even though they’re facing pushback from some state legislatures and governors.

2. The working class isn’t benefiting

    • Nevertheless, conservative parties around the world are marketing themselves as parties of the working class.
    • Populists recognize the working class is essential to their success at the national level because of the “diploma divide” that now separates right and left.
    • It used to be that working people recognized education as a path to prosperity.

3. The rich and powerful direct the chaos

    • In a war of all against all, it’s not the wealthy who lose.
    • Furthermore, once a lust for vengeance takes hold in the general public, it’s almost always being directed by elites with money and power who benefit financially or politically from the chaos.

4. Assaults on the rule of law

    • The paranoid style of politics has entered a new phase with a full-spectrum assault on the rule of law — from inside government.
    • Populists are lying when they argue they want to empower the rest of us by divesting judges of their authority to oversee democracy.
    • As he runs again for president, he’s already telegraphing his violent desires, promising pardons for the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

The road ahead for populists

    • The defeats of Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro don’t represent absolute rejections of their movements.
    • Despite an indictment for alleged financial crime and being found liable for sexual abuse in a civil case, Trump is still the 2024 front-runner.
    • Read more:
      Why populism has an enduring and ominous appeal

      We can’t count on an easy institutional fix, like a grand electoral coalition to push the populists off the ballot.

Red lights flashing

    • Nor can we count on the right to step back from the abyss of culture wars.
    • We can’t even say for certain that the populism will recede in the usual cyclical manner.
    • All citizens can do is offer is constant, concerted pushback against the many big lies told by populists.

In the 1800s, colonisers attempted to listen to First Nations people. It didn't stop the massacres

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 1, 2023

Note of warning: This article refers to deceased Aboriginal people, their words, names and images.

Key Points: 
  • Note of warning: This article refers to deceased Aboriginal people, their words, names and images.
  • Words attributed to them and images in the article are already in the public domain.
  • Also, historical language is used in this article that may cause offence.

Spotlight on the treatment of Indigenous people

    • During the 1830s, slave rebellions in Britain’s colonies and a growing humanitarian movement in the UK pushed the government to abolish slavery.
    • The spotlight was then turned on the treatment of Indigenous peoples, both within and on the edges of the rapidly expanding British Empire.
    • [had] directed their anxious attention to the adoption of some plan for the better protection and civilisation of the native tribes.
    • shewn [sic] himself to be eminently qualified by his charge of the Aboriginal Establishment at Flinders Island.

An aim to convey ‘wants, wishes or grievances’

    • Protectors were to “watch over the rights and interests of the natives” and protect them from “acts of cruelty, of oppression or injustice”.
    • The protector was also to be a kind of conduit to express the “wants, wishes or grievances” of Aboriginal peoples to the colonial governments.
    • Read more:
      90 years ago, Yorta Yorta leader William Cooper petitioned the king for Aboriginal representation in parliament

A failure from the beginning

    • The protectorates scheme was also bound up in the supposed superiority of the colonisers’ race and Christian religion.
    • The ultimate goal was for Aboriginal people to become “civilised” and Christian – just like white people apparently were.
    • It was a paternalistic concept that ultimately turned humanitarian ideals into an even more violent and coercive colonial system.

How this history feeds into failed policies today

    • These supposedly moral standards around “protection” and “civilisation” ultimately forced Indigenous people to become less Indigenous.
    • These beliefs continue to permeate our government today through failed paternalistic policies such as Closing the Gap.
    • Such racialised policies draw on Australia’s history of containment of Aboriginal land and the ongoing colonial violence of “protection”.

Closing the First Nations employment gap will take 100 years

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 1, 2023

That required, by 2018, lifting the employment rate for First Nations Australians from 48% to 60%, with the rate for other Australians being 72%.

Key Points: 
  • That required, by 2018, lifting the employment rate for First Nations Australians from 48% to 60%, with the rate for other Australians being 72%.
  • At the 2021 census the employment rate for First Nations Australians was 51%, while the rate for other Australians was 74%.
  • Assuming the employment rate for other Australians does not change, the rate of incremental gains in First Nations employment since 2008 suggests that closing the employment gap is going to take 100 years.

What these statistics show

    • The Closing the Gap methodology measures employment as a percentage of all people aged 15 to 64.
    • We’ve adopted the approach used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for its unemployment data.
    • We’re using Australian Bureau of Statistics data, so we’ve stuck with the bureau’s approach.

Educational attainment matters

    • Almost half of the First Nations Australians (49%) do not have a qualification beyond secondary education, compared with 31% of other Australians.
    • These differences in educational attainment are reflected in employment outcomes.
    • For every level of educational attainment less than a diploma, First Nations unemployment rate is at least double that of other Australians.

Location counts

    • But one clear factor is geographic location.
    • Why do the unemployment rates for other Australians show the opposite trend, with lower rates the more remote?
    • Read more:
      Albanese government announces $424 million to narrow a gap that is not closing fast enough

Employment by occupation


    The unemployment-related factors lead to differences in the occupational profile of First Nations Australians. They are more likely than other Australians to be employed in community and personal services or manual labour, and significantly less likely to be in a professional or managerial role.

Different approaches needed

    • These statistics show that, with the exception of those achieving postgraduate qualifications, First Nations Australians face multiple disadvantages in employment.
    • Listening to those closest to the problem, and giving First Nations Australians a greater say in designing and implementing solutions would be a good start.

Daniel Penny's GiveSendGo campaign: Crowdfunding primarily benefits the most privileged

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 1, 2023

A GiveSendGo crowdfunding campaign has raised over $2.8 million from 57,000 donations for Daniel Penny’s legal expenses.

Key Points: 
  • A GiveSendGo crowdfunding campaign has raised over $2.8 million from 57,000 donations for Daniel Penny’s legal expenses.
  • While many people on the left have expressed dismay at the success of this fundraiser, GiveSendGo isn’t necessarily wrong to host it.

Violent crime ban

    • Penny’s fundraiser was likely created on GiveSendGo rather than the much larger and better known GoFundMe website because GoFundMe has a policy against allowing fundraisers for the legal defence of people accused of violent crimes.
    • In many cases these fundraisers have been enormously successful, raising hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.
    • But helping people accused of violent crimes to defend themselves in court is a different matter.

Unfair advantage

    • Nonetheless, Penny’s fundraiser shows crowdfunding is a wildly unfair way of securing this and other rights.
    • He has benefited from the politicization of his actions and wide support on the political right, including calls to support the fundraiser from politicians like Florida Gov.
    • People with more privileged networks can expect better outcomes than people in positions of greater relative need.

Campaigns with no support

    • What this means is that crowdfunding isn’t a fair means for people accused of violent crimes to pay for their legal defence.
    • For every Daniel Penny or Kyle Rittenhouse, there are thousands of campaigns that get little or no public support.
    • Perhaps their alleged crimes are abhorrent and people would have no interest in financially supporting those accused of them.

Reputational damage

    • GoFundMe’s decision to ban campaigns for the legal defence of people accused of violent crimes was likely driven by reputational concerns rather than principle.
    • The problem is that crowdfunding operates largely as a popularity contest, distributing help in deeply inequitable ways.

Want long-term contraception? There are more effective options than the pill. But they can be hard to find

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 1, 2023

Australians’ access to a range of contraceptive options depends on where they live and how wealthy they are.

Key Points: 
  • Australians’ access to a range of contraceptive options depends on where they live and how wealthy they are.
  • A recent parliamentary inquiry recommends ways to end this “postcode lottery” for people who want to use long-acting reversible contraception.
  • There are several types of long-acting reversible contraception: the hormonal contraceptive implant, the hormonal intrauterine devices (IUD) and copper IUDs.

How do they work?

    • It releases a progestogen hormone which prevents monthly egg release from the ovary for up to three years.
    • IUDs are small T-shaped devices which are inserted into the uterus.
    • Hormonal IUDs contain a progestogen hormone and mainly work by thickening the cervical mucus and preventing sperm from swimming up into the uterus.

They have additional benefits for some users

    • As well as better protection from pregnancy, some long-acting reversible contraception methods have other benefits.
    • The hormonal IUD, Mirena, for example, reduces heavy menstrual bleeding.
    • This includes people with hormone-driven cancers such as breast cancer, for whom any hormonal contraceptive would be considered unsafe.

Why aren’t they more available?

    • Out-of-pocket IUD insertion-related costs can also vary from zero to hundreds of dollars if people don’t have access to publicly funded services.
    • Here’s what to expect

      On the supply side, too few health professionals provide these essential services.

    • There are multiple successful models of nurse-led long-acting reversible contraception services and postpartum insertion of implants by midwifes nationally and internationally.
    • However, most nurses aren’t able to access Medicare remuneration, which creates additional barriers for this highly skilled workforce to provide these services.

What are the recommendations for reform?

    • The Senate inquiry has recognised these barriers and recommends making contraception universally affordable, and specifically, subsidising copper IUDs.
    • It also recommends adequate remuneration through Medicare for GPs, nurses and midwives to provide long-acting reversible contraception insertion and removal, and collaborative efforts between the government and medical colleges to improve access to workforce training.
    • While the recommendations are welcome, they now need to be turned into actions through adequate funding.

Liberty Children's Home in Belize Receives Support from Marcella De Martin, Billy Lerner's Wife, for Billy 4 Kids Organization

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, May 31, 2023

They are, in turn, left more vulnerable to an array of infections, with hookworm, a soil-transmitted parasitic disease particularly prevalent.

Key Points: 
  • They are, in turn, left more vulnerable to an array of infections, with hookworm, a soil-transmitted parasitic disease particularly prevalent.
  • Marcella De Martin, the wife of Billy Lerner, is determined to help stop this health crisis.
  • Along with her business partner, Alexson Roy and the Billy4Kids foundation, Marcella De Martin has supplied 200 pairs of canvas runners to the Liberty Children's Home in Ladyville Belize.
  • As the newly appointed ambassador of Billy4Kids, Marcella De Martin is determined to stop the repetitive cycle of poverty faced by the children of Belize.

National MSO Crash Champions Sponsoring Collision Engineering Program Talent at College of Lake County

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, May 31, 2023

"It Takes an Industry to Raise a Technician"

Key Points: 
  • College of Lake County CEP students with Crash Champions owners and mentors.
  • "The growing demand for highly trained collision repair technicians is well documented," said Crash Champions Founder and CEO Matt Ebert.
  • "Schools don't just need employers, we need partners," said Octavio Cavazos, automotive collision repair instructor at College of Lake County.
  • In addition to the College of Lake County, the Collision Engineering Program is active at Ranken Technical College in St. Louis, Missouri; Contra Costa College in San Pablo, California; Collin College in Allen, Texas; Texas State Technical College in Waco, Texas; Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois; and Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska.